An Extended Stay in Thailand

February 1, 2011 - After a great safari we returned to Arusha and started to get reconnected to what was happening in the rest of the world. I made quick check of the CBC website to catch up on what was happening at home and discovered the main headline was about unrest in Egypt. An email from our tour company in Egypt confirmed the unrest but felt our tour would go on, another email from our travel agent advised us of our cancellation options, and a third email from a friend advised us not to go to Egypt. We were all looking forward to our visit to Egypt but by the next morning any hope of us visiting Egypt had vanished. The unrest had gotten worse, Canada was not recommending travel to Egypt, and our tour had been canceled. We were disappointed that we would miss Egypt but glad to avoid the crisis.

As we left Arusha and headed for Nairobi. We all were wondering what our next steps would be. That was decided for us by our travel insurance company. In this case, the terms of the policy were to get us to our next destination. We would by pass Egypt and head directly to Thailand but instead of a 3 day layover in Bangkok we were now faced with a 16 day visit with no plans. I suppose there are worse places we could have ended up.

At our hotel in Nairobi, Susan and I took turns supervising the kids at the hotel pool while we started to make arrangements for new flights and accommodations in Thailand. We were relieved to be back on track and would have a place to stay when we arrived. The rest of our plans would have to wait until we arrived in Thailand.

After a day of flying we reached Bangkok early in the next morning. The first thing we did was pick up a copy of the Lonely Planet Guide for Thailand and then headed off to our hotel for some much needed rest. The hotel room was a luxurious 2 bedroom apartment complete with a washer and dryer, which after our safari we put to good use. Apart from the typical harrowing taxi ride from the airport, our first day in Thailand was confined to our hotel and the local grocery store.

On our second day in Bangkok we started our acclimatization process and headed out to explore the city. This meant getting use to the heat and humidity, learning to navigate the public transit system, and avoiding the tourist scams. As we had over 2 weeks in Thailand, we decided to take our time easing into Thailand. After a few hours of exploring and finding an English bookstore for the boys, we headed back to the pool in the hotel.

It was early the next morning when things started to go wrong for us as both boys woke up sick. Our third day in Bangkok was spent in the hotel as the boys recuperated. This was the day we decided we needed some down time and made plans to head to the beaches of Phuket. The next day with the boys feeling better we headed to an aquarium the boys had discovered. It was at the aquarium when Susan got sick and I joined her about 6 hours later. The next day we were both zombies as we endured another couple of crazy taxi rides and flight delays on our way to Phuket.

Phuket took less time for acclimatization, the beach was a 5 minute walk from our hotel and the water was crystal clear and about 28 degrees. We spent the next few days recuperating and just relaxing at the beach before I got sick again. With another bout of sickness our few days at the beach stretched into a week at Phuket. During that time the boys did manage to swim with and ride a baby elephant, we all did some snorkeling, Susan and I tried the Thai massage, and at about 10 dollars Susan had a pedicure and manicure. And we learned that one can shop in Phuket by just laying on the beach, as a steady stream of sellers worked their way up and down the beach. Sooner or later someone would come by with something you wanted to buy. We were starting to get very use to life on the beaches of Phuket but we needed to get back to Bangkok for our flight to Australia and we also wanted to visit the Grand Palace and visit some of Bangkok's temples.

For more pictures of our Thailand experience check out our web album.